44 Days To Go!

With under a month and a half to go, I sat down with my mother-in-law, Diane, on Monday to talk Disney World. 

Diane and I talked about Garden Grocer and she seemed really into the idea.  Up until then I was thinking of just getting bottled water from Costco ($6.99 with free shipping to the hotel).  When Diane and I talked about what all of us ate in the morning and the types of snacks we might want, it seemed like we could easily find $40 worth of food. 

I asked her what her impression of WDW was and she said that she thinks about when Matt and I came back from WDW for the first time together and I told the story of Matt's first ride.  He went on Spaceship Earth first and within 5 minutes of being on the attraction he looked at me with his eyes lit up and said, "This is so cool!"  I'll never forget it!  Ever.  Matt just lets go and becomes immersed into the Disney "magic." 

At one point in the conversation Diane asked me, "So do you guys walk everywhere?"  And I replied, "What do you mean?  Like, from park to park?"  She said, "Yeah!" 

I laughed out loud and said, "Disney World is 47 square miles.  Do you wanna walk that?!" 

Diane's eyes got huge. 

After that question came out of Diane's mouth I realized that she needed a crash course in Walt Disney World.  I made a PowerPoint on Tuesday and showed it to her that night.  I broke it down, park by park, gave her a little history of each park, and showed the park maps.  I also made sure to include the map of the entire Walt Disney World Resort so she could understand just how much space it takes up.  I didn't get into attractions or restaurants.  That's stuff that the Disney planning DVD will cover whenever I get the new one. 

Another thing I wanted Diane to understand is how convenient WDW makes it to vacation there.  I showed her all of the forms of transportation and the proximity of our hotel to the Magic Kingdom.  Included in my PowerPoint were also photos of our resort and how easy it will be for us to get to food, busses, and the beach.  I'm pretty sure up until then she was under the impression that we'd have to rent a car.

So, here we are.  44 days away from departure and it's finally starting to set in.  Since Saturday I've watched all 4 of the Disney planning DVDs that I own (some of them I've watched twice).  Yesterday I began work on my travel binder that I carry with me until we check into the resort.  I printed up my day itinerary as well as the assumed park hours.  I also made a few more dining reservations for us that we may or may not keep.  This is what we're looking at right now.

Saturday, October 9 - MK
Sunday, October 10 - DHS  'Ohana  8:50 p.m. 
Monday, October 11 - EP    Biergarten  12:30 p.m.
Tuesday, October 12 - AK  Spa @ 3:30 p.m.  La Nouba @ 9:00 p.m.
Wednesday, October 13 - DHS  - American Idol Experience Day
Thursday, October 14 - Water Park (not sure which one yet)
Friday, October 15 - MK  Cape May Cafe  5:25 p.m.
Saturday, October 16 -  Kona Cafe  8:45 a.m.   Depart from Orlando Airport around 3:00 p.m.